Axial thrashing and straw reducing machine



sep; 22, 1931,. F. scHLm-ER 1,824, 32

AXIAL THRASHING AND S'IRAW REDUCING MACHINE Filed Feb. 25. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 5N VENT OR: Felix J'rfilayer' S pt 2 93 F. SCHLAYER 1,824,632

AXIAL 'I'HRASHING AND STRAW REDUCING MACHINE Filed Feb. 25, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 22, 1931 i PATEN OFFICE FELIX SCHLAYER, ormnnnrn, srAIN.

AXIAL rrnnnsnme Ann sa nawnnnucme MACHINE Applicationfiled February 23, 1929, Serial No. 342,175, and in Austria February 20, 1928.

This invention relates to anyaxial'thrash ing machine, or thrashing and'stiaw-reducing machine, its object being to effect cer-- tain improvements in the device for separating the grain from the straw.

Machines of the kind referred to have the pecularity of discharging the materials in a plurality of separate streams-issuing one behind another along the machine drum. 10 This is particularly the case with machines of the Schlayer type, wherein, owing to the special arrangement of the rotary beaters and stationary abutments, the'materials are first subjected to a lenient treatment which discharges the looseand heavy grains, the thrashing being gradually intensified as the materials travel through 'the'drum at the end of which the straw is torn and reduced.

In contradistinction to knownconstructions wherein the materials are discharged together in a single stream and require spacious devices and a considerable expenditure of power for a subsequent separation and dressing, the present invention consists in 4 providing a dressing or separating device for the differently conditioned streams of materials, said device separately treating these streams of materials. After the dif-- ferent streams have thus been subjected to v ried out almost entirely by means of the wind from the blower the function ofthe sieves being principally to obstruct the falling movementof the materials and prolong the action on the latter of the wind. When the materials issue from the drum the lightor parts thereof will immediately be caught by the wind and carried away. As compared with machines wherein the blower is arranged transverselybeneath or behind the drum, the novel blower arrangement has the further advantage that the machine can be built much lower and shorter and that it can thus be more easily supervised.

Naturally the more the wind gains in importance in the dressingv of the materials, the greater will be the effect of variations in, the strength of the same. Care must therefore be taken to maintain a constant speed of the beater shaft. This can easily be effected by rendering the feed uniform.

Since the drum of an axial thrashing machine, unlike the ledge and spike drum machines, does not possess any feed regulating cage which prevents the entrance of thick bundles of material, it isevident that a careless feeding will result in irregular movementof the machine. Such irregularity has a detrimental effect on the generation of wind and'thus on the functioning of the winnowing device. It is therefore necessary to provide means for rendering the feed uniform and thisis efiected by the provision of aregulator which evens out thick bundles into thin uniform layers. This regulator consists of a box-shaped automatic feeder containing a conveying device comprising a rapidly moving endless band and a retarding element arranged under said band. 1 Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a longitudinal section of the machine, V a r i a I 7 Fig. 2 shows a plan of the same,

.FigFS'is arearview of the machine,

Fig. 4, a cross-section on the lineIV-IV of Fig.

Fig. 4a shows a blower mouth in section on an enlarged scale, I

Fig. 5, a cross-section on the line V-V of Fig. 2.

-' l is an axial thrashing and straw-reducing machine of the Schlayer type, wherein the rotating heaters 3 fixed to the beater shaft 2, areat the inlet end at a certain radial distance from the fixed abutments 5 arranged on the machine casing 4, the distance becoming smaller and smaller towards the discharge end of the machine where they intermesh for the reduction of the straw. I denotes the thrashing zone, II the preliminary reducing zone, III the final reducing zone,

and IV the short straw outlet.

The machine drum 4 is carried byframe 6 which rests on removable running wheels 7 and is provided in its lower portion with adjustable feet 8v on which the machine stands during operation. On a front and middle transverse portion of the frame 6 there are bearings 9 for the beater shaft 2 which carries on its front end the driving' belt pulley lOand on its rear end a preferably axially adjustable disc 11. The'latter allows thechopped straw to issue between its somewhat conically shaped rim and the wall of the final, reducing chamber, whilst it has on the hub a concentric opening for admitting the additional air which is interrupted only by the spokes of the disc. This additional air flows to the hub opening from the rear end of the machine through a cylinderlike attachment 12 which passes through the hood l3 surrounding the short straw outlet. c e

The feed trough 14: is located laterally of the thrashing drum. On the same side of the machine and parallel to thethrashing and reducing drum 4 there is arranged the blower for the winnowing device, the hearing 15 for the blower shaft 16 being fixed on the side portions of the frame through the intermediary of small stands. The blower isformed of two co-axially arranged single blowers 17 18, lying one behind the other, the wind-vanes 19 of which are all mounted on the shaft 16. The front blower portion 17 extends from a position somewhat behind the front wall of the machine up to-the end of the final reducing chamber III. The second blower portion extends somewhat from the first third part of the hood 13 up to the rear transverse portion of the frame 6 located at a certain distance from the hood. The blower shaft 16 is connected with the beater shaft 2 by belt drive 20.

. Beneath the thrashing and reducing drum land stretching towards the side turned to the blower 17, there is located a preliminary winnowing mechanism 21. which consists of two oppositely moved shaking boxes and which is suspended in front'on springs .22 and behind on reciprocating levers 22 and executes a movement which is transverse to the machine drum and which is imparted to V the swinging levers 22 by the blower shaft 16 by means of connecting rods 23. From the sectional representation in Fig. 4, it is'seen that the air issuing from the passage 24 (formed of adjustable walls) of the blower portion 17 aerates regularly both shaking boxes andcan act directly especially on the stream of material which is winnowed and which issues from the discharge opening at the bottom and longitudinally of the drum 4:. As may be seen fromthe special representation in Fig. 4a., there is located in the discharge portion of the not very short passage 24, a triangularly shaped regulating plate 24 which can be rotated about the asymmetrically arranged axle 24F. WVith the aid of this plate the blowing air which is uniformly distributed in the inlet end of the passage, maybe uniformly or non-uniformly distributedat the moment of issue over both of the outlet portions. Conseqiiently'it is possible, as desired, to allow a larger quantity of airto flow through the upper or lower outlet portion or to give it a direction which is inclined more upwards or downwards without wholly shutting up the other outlet portion. I

' A ledge 21 separating the streams of ma-' terial is placed on thejupper shaking box of the winnowing mechanism 21 at the plane of contact betweenthe zones I and II and also, if desired, at theplane of contact between the Zones II and III. These ledges orpartitions may be detachably arranged. 25 denotes a passage which catches the preliminary 'winnowed grains and leads to an elevator 26.

A second preliminary winnowing mechanism 27 likewise consisting of two oppositely running shaking boxes movably mounted transversely of the longitudinal axis of the machine, is located below or behind the hood 13. A two-armed swinging lever 22 provided'on eachside of the box is mounted on a pivot 22 Its shorter lower arm directly engages the lower box of the shaking apparatus whilst its longer upper arm is connected with the-upper, box by means of a connecting rod. The upper box is suspended in front and behind on springs 22 whilst the lower box rests in 1 front on supporting springs and is'carried at its rear end by the reciprocating levers. The position of attachment of the connecting rod 28 pivoted to the blower shaft 16; to the reciprocating lever may be made changeable. The use of reciprocating levers as a portion of the driving mechanism in the case of these winnowing machines, renders it possible to impartitoneach box a stroke corresponding to 7 its working requirements without the necessity' of making adjustments on the common driving shaft 16. The preliminary winnow-v ing apparatus 27 is aerated by therear single blower .18 and is, if necessary, also adapted to. be regulated; The preliminarily winnowed grains fall onto a return fioor and pass through the passage 28 to'the elevator 26. a

The latter is carried to such a height between theblower portions 17 and 18 that it can deliver the grains into a drum 29 which lies above the machine frame 6 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the machine and which serves as an awning and con veying deviceuand. moves the grains into opening of the hood 13, a stream of materialthe cleaning mechanism located behindgle shaking box which is movable transversely to the longitudinal axis of the machine and is suspended on vertical springs and which is aeratedby a blower 31 arranged at the end of the awning device. It is driven by a jolting rod 30 which is at tached to the connecting rod 23 and which imparts to it a smaller. stroke than that imparted to the upper box:27.- The sifted corn is collected on the floor 32' and passed to the carrying off outlet 33. Grains or cars that blow over, fall at the end of the floor 32 into a rearwardly directed hopper 34 which leads them to the upper shaking box of the rear preliminary winnowing apparatus 27. p which is partitioned Off by a ledge27 and which thus remains free from the short straw coming from the hood 13. manner all the grains blowing over are subjected to repeated winnowing and arrive in the elevator in a short simple way or pass on to repeated further treatment. 35 represents the drive of theawning of conveying device 29, 29 from the carrying oil elevator 26.

The machine operates as follows: The grain to be thrashed is fed. through the inlet l t to the heaters 3 which seize it principally by being hurled against the fixed abutments 5, whilst in Zone II itundergoes, on account of the increasing proximlty of the members 3, 5 a sharper treatment which approaches reduction and which changes in; .1 zone III into a disintegrating action of the desired degree. 7

In accordance with this mode of treatment there issues, through the sieve-likebottom portion ofthe drum 4 and from the bottom which can be regarded as composed ofsingle streams which lie axially behind'one another and which consist in the inlet zone substantlally only of grains but which, on passing towards the rear end ofthe 1nach1ne,carry with them more and more impurities and at the discharge end contain almost entirely short straw. I

By means of this novel arrangement of blower and heater drum, the individual streams of material cannowsbe treated directly side by side and transversely to the longitudinal direction of the machine, a feature which is extraordinarily advantageous because the said streams are directly and The cleaning mechanism consists of a sin v Here it fallsonto a surface In this by themselves individually exposed to the Wind current and are more thoroughly winnowed on account of the avoidance ofthe formation of large mixed streams of material. The eifect ofthis divided or stepwise treatment of the material to be winnowed is enhanced by themovement transversely of the longitudinalxaxis ofthe machine, of the shaking boxes which convey the material to be sifted approximately in a straight line,

so that without the arrangement of special walls on the sieves, the streams of material to be sifted remain side by side separated and parallel toeach other.

. Naturally, special circumstances may make 3 it appear advisable to provide one or a number of "separating walls. The ledge 21 represented with the front preliminary winnowing apparatus has thus the object of separating, in the case of grain with sharp ear portions which becomedetached in the inlet zone and are not usable as cattle food,

the said ear portions completely from the remaining short straw and to bring them to the notice of the operator.

The short. straw issuing from the hood l3 meets a'sharply blowing wind current of the machine which'sucks up any necessary ad ditional operating air through the attachment 12. The wind current loosens the straw falling on the rear preliminary winnowing apparatus 27 and distributes it over the sifting surface which is entirely aerated by the blower 18.

The grains sifted ofil in the preliminary winnowing devices 21 and 27 reach the elevator 26 which conveys them either into the driver-'29 acting as awning device or into the conveying device 29 from either of which they pass into the cleaning mechanism 30. The cleaned grains are carried off at The aeration of the cleaning mechanism 30 is effected by the blower 31 arranged at the end of therawning device 29. The portions of the material blown over arrive through the'passage 34: on the sifting surface of the upper shaking box which is partitioned oli by'the ledge 27 The invention is also applicable to a machine used for threshing only or to a machine used for reducing only since even in the latter instance the materials may besort'ed out into severalstreams.

What I claim is: I

l. The combination of an axial thrashing machine including means for gradually reducing. the straw and having a thrashing drum with a grain outlet and an axially spaced combined reduced straw and grain outlet w th a winnowing apparatus oper- 'atively associated therewith and projecting underneath the drum, the said winnowing apparatuscomprising axially and successively positioned independently functioning cleaning and separating means extendin transversely to the longitudinal direction 0 int llb

the drum and .beingpositioned closely ad jacent the outlets of the drum to which they correspond and with which they communicate to V separately I receive the different grades of materials as they come from the.

7 leaves the casing and before itreaches the winnowing stages. a

3. Inan axial thrashing machine a casing enclosing a thrashing chamber and a straw reducing chamber having a grain inlet at one end and an outlet for reduced straw at the other end, openings for the delivery of material to be cleaned of different degrees of cleanliness axially arranged behind each other in the bottom of the drum, said drum being mounted in longitudinal direction of, the machine se aaratin a aratus under- 7 b neath said drum in a transverse direction thereof consisting of at least two winnowing mechanisms each with sieves shaking transversely to the thrashing drum, said .mechanisms axially arranged one behind the other for the separate treatment of streams of said material and the reduced straw, a blower whose shaft is arranged parallel to the thrashing drum.

4. An axial machine of the character set forth in claim 3 wherein the blowers are arranged opposite the independently. moved shaking sieve-units and to one side and below the level of the thrashing drum together with comparatively short wind delivery channels leading from said blowers to points in proximity to the, bottom delivery open-- in gs of the thrashing drum arranged axially.

onebehind the other and ending infront of said shaking sieves. Y

5. An axial machine of the character set forth in claim 3 wherein a winnowing blower is provided for each of said winnowing mechanisms, said blowers being of different capacity.

6. An axial machine of the character set forthi'n claim 3 includinga blower for each of said winnowing mechanisms, the blower for the winnowing mechanism; at the delivery end of the machine corersponding to the strawoutlet, being of greater size and adapted to supply a larger quantityof air than the blower near the admission end.

7 In an axial thrashing machine, a thrashing drum having openings situated axially one behind the other as passages for the outlet of material to be cleaned of'difl'erent degrees of cleanliness, a winnowing apparatus underneath; and beside said thrashing drum consisting of at least two winnowing mechanisms shaking transversely to the drum and being axially arranged one behind the other adapted for the separate treatment of the streams of material, a blower for each of said winnowing mechanism having a com-. mon shaft dlsposed parallel to the thrashing drum and connected to said shaking mechanisms.

8. In an axial thrashing machine, a machine drum having in its wall openings axially arranged one behind the other and forming outlets for the material to be cleaned of different degrees of cleanliness, a winnowing apparatus underneathv said thrashing drum comprising at least two preliminary shaking mechanisms arranged axially the onebehind the other and transversely to the thrashing drum, a blower for said" mechanisms whose shaft is disposed parallel to the axis of said thrashing drum, an elevated aerated oscillatable final clean ing mechanism in the corner of the delivery end of said thrashing drum anda shaking mechanism, a lifting means situated between said winnowing mechanisms and adapted to lift the preliminarily cleaned grain up to the height of said last named mechanism and a conveying device to convey the grain to said final cleaning mechanism.

9. A machine of the character set forth in claim 8 wherein are provided a conveying drum acting at the same time as an awning device and a drum containing a worm-like conveying device between said lifting means and the cleaning mechanism, a blower arranged at the end of one of the drums, said blower being I co-ordinated with the final provided with a partition extending in a direction at an angle to the axis of the thrashing drum for separating the materials of diiierent grades.

11. In an axial thrashing machine a casing enclosing a thrashing chamber and a straw reducing chamber, said chamber having a grain-inlet at one end and an outlet for reduced straw at the other end and openings in the bottom portion thereof arranged axially one behind the other for the delivery of streams of materialsof'diiferent degrees of cleanliness and a winnowing apparatus disposed essentially beneath the casing and comprising axially and successively arranged shakers disposed transversely to the axis of the casing and adapted to be moved independently of one another, part of the shakers being provided for the outlets of the grain streams and another part for the outlet of the reduced straw. V

12. In an axial thrashing machine a casing enclosing a thrashing chamber and a straw reducing chamber, said casing having a grain inlet at one end and an outlet for reduced straw at the otherend and openings in the bottom portion thereof arranged axially one behind the other for the delivery of streams of material of different degrees of cleanliness and a winnowing apparatus disposed essentially beneath the casing and comprising axially and successively arranged shakers disposed transversely to the axis of the casing and adapted to be moved independently of one another, each shaker having oppositely moved sieve-boxes, part of the shakers being provided for the outlets of the grain streams and another part for the outlet of the reduced straw.

13. An axial thrashing machine for thrashing and reducing grain, comprising a casing arranged in thelongitudinal direction of the machine, a grain inlet at one end and an outlet for reduced straw at the other end of the casing,,a rotary shaft within the said casing, working members secured to the said shaft, corresponding working members provided within the said casing, the said casing having axial outlets arranged one behind the other for grain of different degrees of impurity, a winnowing apparatus for grain and reduced straw essentially arranged beneath the thrashing and reducing casing, and a blower forming part of the winnowing apparatus and being disposed parallel to the thrashing and reducing casing.

14. An axial thrashing machine for thrashing and otherwise treating grain, comprising a casing arranged in the longitudinal direction of the machine, a grain inlet at one end and a straw outlet at the other end of the casing, a rotary shaft with in the casing, working members secured to the said shaft, corresponding counter-members provided at the inside of the casing, the said casing having axial outlets arranged one behind the other for streams of cleaning material of difierent degrees of impurity, shakers moved transversely to the casing and axially disposed one behind the other essentially underneath and near the outlets of the streams of material to be cleaned for the separate treatment of these streams, and a blower forming part of the shakers and disposed parallel to the thrashing casing.

15. A machine of the character set forth in claim 14 wherein one shaker unit is provided for the straw outlet at the end of the casing and for a separated portion of the blower.

16. A machine of the character set forth in claim 14, wherein each shaker has superposed sieves, a wedge-shaped wind distributing and regulating device arranged in the blower outlet, the said wedge-shaped body being secured to, and adjustable solely by,

a shaft disposed on an edge facing the to the axis of said thrashing drum, an elevated aerated oscillatable final cleaning mechanism at the delivery end of said thrashing drum, a lifting means situated between said winnowing mechanisms and adapted to lift the preliminarily cleaned grain up to the height of said last named mechanism and a conveying device to convey the grain to said cleaning mechanisms, a channel being provided and connected to the overflow of said final cleaning mechanism andleading downward to the shaking.

sieve of the rear winnowing mechanism, the latter extending over the delivery end of the thrashing casingand the channel terminating on a portion of the projecting shaking sieveof the winnowing mechanism.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

I 'FELIX SOHLAYER; 

